


There's No Need For Anything But Us.

by SS98



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Bottom Harry, Bottom Louis, High School, Innocent Harry, Innocent Louis, Loud Louis, M/M, No smut though haha sorry, Nothing dark, Rain, Student Harry, Student Louis, Top Harry, Top Louis, based on my life, prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-04
Updated: 2015-11-04
Packaged: 2018-04-30 00:40:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,611
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5143958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SS98/pseuds/SS98
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Harry loves Louis and Louis loves (loved?) Harry, but they don't know that.</p><p>
  <b>Based (very, very loosely) on my life.</b>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	There's No Need For Anything But Us.

**_[A/N: This is because I wanted to do my take on cliché *giggles* it's very fun and unlike my usual writing. Angst though. No violence, no blood, no gore. Based off a prompt given to me by my best friend. We're pretty lame. The education system used in here is loosely based on the South African one. - S xx]_ **

_Science is simply the word we use to describe a method of organising our curiosity._

"What test?!" Louis dropped his books onto his desk at the front of the class after returning from their Biology class. 

Year Eleven has brought around the tendency in Louis to be as prudent as can be. He learnt for any and every test that was ever scheduled, yet on that day he'd show up to class panicking anyway. Right now was Physical Sciences and they'd just returned to their form classroom after forty minutes of listening to their teacher read from a textbook. 

"Will you shut up?" Niall rolls his eyes from his seat behind Louis'. "You know you're ready for the stupid test." 

"Stupid test, I hear?" Their teacher walks in with a mildly amused expression in reaction to Niall's comment. "I'm gonna remember that, Horan."

"Sorry, Mam!" Niall grovelled for hope that he might not fail. 

Harry walked in carrying the stack of two chairs from their lesson next door. Their ritual was that Harry carried the 'theory' objects such as stationery and textbooks on their way out while Louis took the chairs, then rotated for the trip back. 

"We have a test today, Lou. Mam told us about it last week." Liam reminds their entire corner squad with a pencil between his lips. 

"What test?" Harry frowned as he handed over a chair to Louis, which the boy gladly took and sat down on. 

Having been friends for three solid years with the lack of arguments and usual psychological debacles that arose with every relationship at some point, Harry and Louis knew each other inside-out. Harry knew Louis wouldn't let him pass to his seat against the wall easily, which he should have predicted. 

"Lou." He said calmly, neatening their pile of assorted pages and files between their joined desks.

"Yeah?" Louis turned around in his chair from where he was engrossed in a conversation with Liam about the study material they got for Math that morning. 

"Let me pass please." He made a weak hand gesture that indicated the location of his seat. 

"Hang on a second." Louis held up his index finger and got back to Liam for a moment. 

Harry sighed and stood rocking back then forth on the heels of his shoes, patting his pockets to check for his phone and keys. Maybe they weren't writing a test today? Mam was famous for setting off false alarms in a class where it was outrageously easy to stir a panic. 

"Hey, Haz." One of their other classmates, Mason walked up to him hauling the lock, stock and barrel needed for their Economics class. 

"Oh hi." Harry greeted, smiling warmly. "It's the end of the year. Are you guys still doing work?"

"You're still writing tests." Mason laughed. 

"Fair point." Harry moved out of Mason's way so he could walk by or get late for class. "See ya later, man."

"Yeah, laters."

Harry looked back at his beloved best friend who was animatedly discussing the pros and cons of not using a calculator to work out variance in the new section of data handling. Louis hated data handling like he hated the colour pink, with a passion. 

He thinks back to whatever made him befriend this fireball of a boy in the first place. They were in separate groups of peers and slowly drifted away from those people because as teenagers grow, they're bound to develop varying opinions. It was a tough time for both of them, as they could never share the mind-washed sense of 'logic' that everyone else seemed to have. 

Louis had approached him first about help for Geometry - or was it Chemistry? - and they've been inseparable ever since. Harry had to confess something to himself as he looked on now, watching Louis battle it out with one quarter of their friend zone. He _hated_ their friendship.

He hated driving to school everyday with Louis in the back-seat doing last minute adjustments to his homework - after which he'll realise his first and scratched-out answer was correct - instead of sitting beside him with possibly their hands connected over the leather console. He hated waking up every morning to expect that. It's not even like Louis didn't have even an ounce of feelings for him, or used to, because Harry royally fucked up when he had to chance to erase this future. 

After their first encounter and a few others, followed by them finding a secluded spot on school grounds to do work and sometimes just escape the commotion of so many other people, Louis told him something he never expected to hear. 

Harry was preoccupied by life itself at that point, and a girlfriend he had since middle school. How could he say yes to his best friend fessing up about feelings towards him at that stage in his life? He wasn't ready to go let go of Taylor or see Louis as anything else. He knew, deep down, that Louis loved him back then just by the earth-shattering brokenness Louis' beautiful eyes took on for the next week. 

Louis became distant until he learned to cope, bottling everything up and building walls. After that, they were back to normal when Louis approached him to split the bill for lunch. 

Taylor cheated on Harry in year ten, and the boy was gutted. He'd given up _Louis_ for her and now he resented her more than ever. Louis helped him through it _as a loyal friend_ by sleeping over at his for a month and convincing Niall to spray paint Taylor's Porsche. She couldn't do anything in retaliation because Louis had a little secret over her that kept her quiet. 

Harry hated himself because of everything he'd done to push Louis' love away, when now it's all he wanted.

"Are you ready to move now?" He asked when Louis spun around in his chair and beamed up at his pal. 

"Go ahead." Louis pulled his chair forward and pushed his beanie back, sniffling from the strong draft coming in through the door.

Turns out the test was a ruse and plot set out to get all eleven learners of the Physics class to start studying for finals. Harry said nothing while their teacher spoke to her students, handling their complaints with a satisfied grin. Louis was poking his arm with a HB pencil, jabbing his muscle repeatedly. 

"Can I help you?" Harry straightened his back and knocked Louis' pencil out of his hand. 

"That was Liam's pencil." Louis tells him, picking up a capped Pentel pen to drag across the planes of Harry's arms. His mission was to discover all ticklish spots for his own general knowledge. 

Sometimes he'd lightly push Harry and giggle when he automatically moved back into an upright position. 

"What are you doing?" Harry asked as Louis was about to deliver another push. 

"Testing out Newton's inertia."

Harry could only watch his best ever friend for thirty seconds before starting to feel like his world was crumbling. With every dart of Louis' magnetic blue eyes came a fatal tug to Harry's ribcage, threatening to free his heart in the worst possible way. 

"Do you have cash on you today?" Louis asked casually, one leg folded under his small frame. Harry could carry him around all day.

"I do." Harry had to take satisfaction in knowing that's the only time he'll get to say those words to Louis, and the pain that accompanied his pang of guilt. 

"We should get a pizza and share it today." Louis continued to draw irrelevant patterns on Harry's body, his tummy now where his abs hid. 

"We will never finish it." 

Louis looks up from under his sinful lashes, unimpressed. "It's like you don't know me, Harold."

And well, he had a point. Harry shook his heart as he laughed, picking at the corners of his textbook and digging his pencil into the page as he drew a few doodles. Louis leaned against him and Harry sucked in a sharp breath in response, gripping his pencil with a scary hold. 

"I'm bored." Louis announced to him, a pout on his lips. 

It's not Louis' fault, which is what Harry kept telling himself in the hopes that he'll remain sane in the very least. He doesn't deserve the ignorance of insanity anyway. His best friend didn't detect his sudden swap in moods because Louis is gloriously oblivious and it isn't his fault Harry dies a little inside whenever Louis breathes too close to him. 

"I can see." Harry turns his head and kisses Louis' frontal lobe, earning himself a big grin from the latter boy. 

It was custom for people to mistaken them for being an actual couple because they meshed so well. Sometimes either one got too affectionate for 'just friends' but Louis was always a cuddler and Harry could never say no to Louis.

"Lou!" Liam hissed, eyes on the teacher as if he'd get in trouble even though everyone in class is having a jolly old time. 

"Yes, Payne?" Louis removes himself from almost being under Harry's arm to pay attention to their friend. 

And like that, their minds switched to a conversation that definitely develops into something overly philosophical for high schoolers and Harry's kiss is forgotten. That hurts most sometimes.

  
* * * * *  


"Liam, I'm telling you it's the same thing." Louis said without turning his back. "Use the Accounting method or the Math method, but it's the same thing."

"The point of the Maths method is to solve for A, which is the figure after depreciation." Liam was jotting down things as the teacher put correction for a past activity up on the chalkboard. "Your method-"

"The awesome method." Louis put in while drawing on Harry's wrist. 

" _Your_ method figures out the depreciation alone."

"Considering-" Louis can't resist a battle with the brains of Liam. "-we have to record both figures, it doesn't matter which way we go."

That was settled but just fight number one thousand out of a possible trillion more. Liam was a lecturer and Louis didn't listen very well. Harry would sometimes watch them in fascination, the back-and-forth that was never stale between them.

When they moved on to figuring out another issue in this asset disposal activity, Louis had a puzzled face when they started counting months.

"Lou-"

"I'm confused." Louis announced, much too loudly for a sensibly silent class. 

Harry chuckled and wondered how he got so lucky. "Pretend, Lou. Pretend like you know everything."

  
* * * * *  


At lunch, Louis loops his arm through Harry's as they sneak down a staircase that's part of the newly declared forbidden territory. 

_"It's tradition, Harold." Louis had pointedly told him when Harry suggested finding a new spot._

_"I know, but-"_

_"Nah uh. Come on."_

Two weeks after their hideout had been labelled as off-bounds, they're still sitting there with their lunches and work to get done. Louis had the obsession to get work completed before he went home so that he could do absolutely nothing. Harry carried the pizza box, arm still locked with Louis' and _not_ mentally snapping pictures of his companion in this view.

"First slice?" Louis opened the box once they were seated on the step outside the abandoned school councillor's office. 

"Mine." Harry said before it could be claimed. 

"No." Louis dragged out the only syllable of the word, pouting as he held the biggest piece of chicken, pineapple and mushroom pizza. 

"You can- Lou!" 

Harry got the slice after Louis bit the pointed tip, smirking as he chewed with cheese stuck to his lip. 

"You're a gym-er, Harold. You can't eat that many carbs." Louis reasoned, still not tending to the melted cheese. 

Harry is a man of impulse and instant gratification, he cannot be blamed for this. He leans forward and lifts the string of cheese with his thumb, not missing out on how Louis stutters in breath. They're always this close, why is he reacting this way? Harry tries not to frown and leans back against the pillar in the sun. 

"As I was saying, Harold." Louis clears his throat and kicks off his shoes, calling silently for yet another tradition. 

"How's your ankle?" Harry blurts out, not sure why but it's obvious it throws Louis off too. 

Slipping his socked feet onto Harry's lap across a distance, Louis rests the pizza box on his knees. "Still hurts."

Harry finished his pizza and figured he could sacrifice his hunger for a little while longer. He examined the tips of Louis' ankle socks and indeed found very slight swelling around the boy's little ankle bone. If they were together, as in Harry's head, he'd spend many hours studying Louis' perfect body. 

"Who told you to fall down three stairs then?" Harry mocked, not letting go when Louis tried reclaiming his feet. 

"I fell _down the stairs_ , Harold. The stairs." Louis tears bits off his second slice. "As in, the trusty rubber soles of my Vans failed me."

"A carpenter shall always blame his tools." 

"Speaking of carpenters-" Louis braced himself against the warm wall, wiggling his toes against Harry's tummy when he leaned forward to close the box. "-have you chosen a career yet?"

"No." Harry sighed, staring at the view of a neighbourhood and numerous trees to their right. "You?"

"Nope. We should start thinking about it though."

"My folks are going out today, won't be back until tomorrow evening." 

Louis raised both his eyebrows, then settled for waggling them suggestively. "What you sayin', Styles?"

Here lies Harry Styles, death by his adorable best friend. Harry swallows, again that torn-up sensation residing in his chest cavity. "We could make it a Game of Thrones and career choices day?"

"Sounds cool." Louis finished up his second slice of thin crust. "Can I stay over?"

"Sure. Why though?"

"Mom's bringing home a boyfriend or something." Louis tries to look unaffected by it all, but he is. He always is.

"Sorry, Lou."

Louis waves him off like there's a fly there. "Get over it, Harold. Crap happens."

"Yeah." Harry spotted a blonde head of hair and gulped. "Yeah it does."

"What's so cryptic- oh shit." 

"Hey, Harry." Taylor stood blocking the sun - there's a metaphor in there somewhere - and smiling with bright red lips. 

Harry's not affected by her or their break-up anymore in the sense that he broke into ruins everytime she looked his way, thanks to Louis. He still hated what she did, but each day that got a little thinner. 

"We're busy, Tay-Tay." Louis scratches something out in his notebook - probably the right answer - and scribbles something fresh - undoubtedly the wrong one. The boy could never trust his instincts. 

Taylor glowers at the boy ducked by the blue tinted shade, but Harry has to get her to leave. He stands up and forgets that Louis' legs were on his lap, they now hit the ground with a thump and Louis hisses. 

"Lou, I'm so sorry." Harry panics and crouches down again, Louis wincing as he folded up his legs. He was a cry baby at times and really, Harry shouldn't have done that. 

"We'll be back." Taylor grabs Harry's arm and hauls him out of his favourite person's presence. 

Louis frowns for a bit when Harry looks at him from the outdoor bathrooms a bit further away, then an unreadable expression becomes him before he turns back to his books. Harry hardly hears any of what Taylor said to him as he was watching Louis curl in on himself, feeling his own skin burn with electricity as he ached to go back. When Louis curled up, he was either sad or hurt.

Harry nods along to whatever his ex-girlfriend is saying, humming at the appropriate times with his eyes elsewhere and finally saying 'Okay' at the end just so he could convey his urgency to leave. By this point, Liam and Niall were blocking Louis from his sight as they chatted to him. 

"Harry!" Taylor snapped her fingers in front of his face and he was forced to look at her, making a distasteful face at her. 

"What's wrong?" He snaps, trying to see past Niall and Liam again.

There's a soft sound that comes from Taylor - exasperation maybe - before she's surging forward to knock him off his feet and kisses him. His immediate reaction is to right himself so he doesn't trip, and ends up holding her slender waist to do so. Right after though, he pushes her away and glares powerfully at her. 

"What the _fuck_?!" He wipes his lips but the sting and awful taste will never go away. 

She's gone without saying more than 'See you later' and Harry realises the kiss wasn't even the worst part. The worst part is looking back at Louis' impassive face and feeling hopeless, watching his best friend start to pack up and stand on his feet. He's limping again like a week ago because Harry probably worsened the recovery and _God_ he hates himself so much.

"Lou!" He never runs. It's another tradition of theirs to skip any and all sporting activities, but dammit he'll run the Earth's surface area twice over for Louis. 

He just about makes it to grab Louis' backpack and wrist, his hand enveloping such a dainty body part. Louis doesn't look at him but tries to put up his mental wall that he always does when he's scared. 

"Liam needed something." Louis says to him, smiling somewhere to the left of Harry's face. "He's lonely at his duty point."

Harry doesn't say anything about either Niall or Liam not being present. "Lou, I-"

"We're dealing with Tay-Tay later." Louis coughs dryly. "What the Hell happened?"

Harry was so confused. He's always confused around Louis, his bipolar best friend. "She-She kissed me."

"I saw." Louis stops smiling at the cloudless sky. "Why?"

"I don't know. I wasn't listening." 

Louis' sadness perked up into a tiny smile. "Probably why she did it. You're a daydreamer, Harold."

"Maybe I am." Harry fears that if he releases Louis, it will be an eternal thing. He can't risk it. "So does Liam-"

"She didn't ask you to take her back, did she?"

Harry's brows knitted together in a bushy frown. "Don't think so. I wouldn't if she did."

"Good." Louis patted his chest with a small - _tiny_ \- palm. "You're too good for her."

The buzzer goes off on a terrifying shrill cry until everyone is gathered in the hall for their assembly. It's a dumb concept, according to Louis. They're always wasting daylight here. Because of Louis' ankle being more of a pest than usual - Harry chews his lip up until it's as raw as can be - he leans against Harry while he stands. 

Their next class is a religious one and Harry does not favour those because Louis isn't going to be there. His best friend has discussed it with their principal in a private meeting - which he gushed about later to Harry - that he's an Atheist and would appreciate one free lesson a day. It was a lie but she believed him, become terrified of him, and gave him the freedom. 

"Have fun." Louis sat at Harry's desk and cracked open some homework modules. 

"Couldn't possibly." The other replied.

Harry wished he was invisible so he could watch Louis all day without getting in trouble. He grabs his books and leaves before he ends up doing exactly that. 

Upon returning, Louis refuses to give up Harry's place but doesn't say it in so many words. His eyes are suspiciously a little red and Harry knows it's the bloody dust in their ancient classroom. Louis had so many allergies. 

"Hey, Lou." Niall tossed a pencil at the boy. "Did you finish that LO homework?"

"Which one?" Louis wiggled in his seat until he got comfortable. Harry takes deep breaths. 

"The one with the mispelled word and a star."

"Oh. Yeah, no. Sorry."

Harry frowned as he thought back. Wasn't that the module Louis opened before he could leave?

  
* * * * *  


"What do we have next?" Niall asked, stretching out like a very. Irish cat in his seat. 

"English." Louis answered above the buzz in the classroom. "I'm exhausted. Are you exhausted, Harold?"

Sometimes Harry forgets his name - or hideous nickname - when Louis is concerned. "Um...yeah."

Louis gives him a look of exaggerated annoyance, giving the hint that he's not annoyed at all. He put his head on Harry's shoulder and jabbed his arm some more before the teacher walked in. After greeting each other, they took out their set-works and Harry smirked at Louis who was tearing up already. It's their last day doing 'Nervous Conditions' and Louis _always_ cried at the end of a novel he enjoyed. 

When the teacher announced that they'd be reading non-stop to the end, Harry rubbed Louis' back and tried not to smile at how dedicated this boy was to anything he chose. Louis bit his lip and pretended nobody existed, listening to the reader speak Nyasha's words and about her mental breakdown. 

"Would you like to read, Liam?" The teacher was talking about the last two paragraphs of the novel.

"No." Louis whispered to Liam, narrowing his eyes. 

"Um-" Liam froze. "Can Lou read?"

Louis didn't read a lot in class. He was fast and got irritated with people who read or moved slowly. God knows why he puts up with Harry on a regular basis. Now, he smiled at the amused educator Harry likened him to a kitten. At the end, he gave a worthy dramatic tone to the last sentence and everyone clapped to mark the ending of another internationally acclaimed work. 

"Now for homework." The teacher clapped his own hands. 

The class groaned and Louis slouched in his chair, hands folded on his tummy - he had a _pudge_. Harry leaned over to him and told him he read well. Louis didn't realise their faces would be that close when he turned around. 

"Thanks." Louis pushed Harry away by his forehead. "So how are you, Harry?"

That marked the beginning of another pointless conversation that would spoil once Liam said something disapproving. Harry would glare and Niall would laugh, Louis giggle.

  
* * * * *  


Now, while Harry enjoyed the subject of Afrikaans, Louis struggled to stay awake. It wasn't boring, not at all, he just never found a real interest in the languages other than English. Today they were starting a new poem and the teacher was discussing it with them in the language itself. 

"Nou mense, gister was ons besig met die seun se gevoelens vir sy moeder. Dis in die laaste reëls van die gedig."

Harry cleared his throat to wake Louis up before he dozed off completely, but the boy was already sliding off his arm. He took an opportunity to be really close to Louis and whispered in his ear. The boy jolted awake but thankfully the teacher didn't notice, just Niall who laughed to himself. 

"Stay awake, Lou." Harry offered him a bottle of water which the boy took and drank. 

"Thanks, Haz." 

Louis cracked his knuckles and got back to taking notes, which meant stealing all of Harry's.

"Your writing is sad, Harold." He would soon say after frowning in concentration, trying to decode a word as simple as 'ongeduldig'.

"My entire family write like cavemen, Louis." Harry reminds him. It's his actual response to teachers when they question his untidiness. 

Louis would take advantage of his good nature after that and poke his dimple. Harry, the only soul in this horrid institution, with a set of dimples that were so charming, and Louis had access to them.

  
* * * * *  


Harry's been especially high-strung today and when the final bell goes, he practically runs to his locker. He goes to throw in non-essential books and packs his necessary ones but stops short when he first sees the door of his wheasy old locker. It's covered in spray paint and is in the form of a very political rainbow.

"Louis." He walks the thirteen steps to his best friend's locker - no amount of Atheist comments could get them one next to each other.

"Hey." Louis slung his bag over his shoulder, getting shoved a little in an unharmful way by other kids. "Ready to-"

"What did you do to my locker?"

"What-"

"The fucking rainbow, Louis!" He all but injured Louis' arm by grabbing his elbow so roughly. 

Louis was a free spirit and Harry truly appreciated that, but this was too far. Definitely too far, especially now with other students laughing at him after seeing it. Point, snigger and walk home. 

"I didn't do this, Harry." Louis spoke calmly, but his fingers were twitching nervously as more people started to gather on their way out. 

He's not his best around crowds and would turn into a real mess whenever he's the center of attention. He looked at the students and though they don't aim to victimise here, they also didn't particularly care at all about how hard his heart was beating. 

"I-I'm leaving." Louis didn't want to defend himself here, where he could barely speak without a stammer. 

Harry was fuming and it was painfully obvious. His sexuality is his own business and now the school is laughing at him, at who he is. He's never publicly dated a male and only Louis knew he was bisexual. How could his best friend do this to him?

"Why, Lou?" Harry stood a foot taller than Louis and the latter was close to shivering with the intimidation. 

"Why wh-what?" Louis was startled by everyone now. The crowd surrounding them had stopped their ridicule to watch the friends. "I-I didn't-"

"Please don't lie." Harry looked as pained as Louis was scared. "Everyone knows you're the spray paint king around here."

"Does-Doesn't mean I-I did this!" Louis hugged his book bag. "I'd never do this to you."

And Louis ran off to hide his tears, shoving and weaving through the people who easily let his pass. Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair, slamming his ruined locker door closed before taking off after his friend. The rain was everywhere and it was hard to see in a car, one could imagine the horror of walking through it. 

He just knew that he had to find Louis before he hurt himself and apologise. Calling Louis out on something like this was wrong of him even if he did do it. Louis was with him all damn day so how could he have done it? Harry is a shit friend for blaming the only angel on this Earth for committing such a crime.

Louis has stage fright and Harry had made sure to let the whole school know - unintentionally - what was happening. He was a deplorable friend to someone so kind. He would apologise profusely and leave Louis alone, if he had the strength to but he knew even now that he won't survive without his small ray of sunshine. 

After standing under some shelter and scanning the parking lot, Harry realised that everywhere was void of a particular pair of blue eyes. He got in his Ford truck and drove slowly down the route to Louis' home, rain pelting against the roof and wind beating against the windows. 

"Louis!" He shouted when he spotted the boy walking on the sidewalk, clutching his bag to his chest and looking like he'll be swept away by the weather. 

Louis ignored him. 

"Lou!" Harry parked off and left the door open to run out. 

He was an inch away from Louis when he grabbed his arm and yanked him back. The wind was so damn strong and Louis had such complex allergy issues that this could kill him. Harry hugged the stubborn boy to his chest, burying him in what little warmth and protection he could offer. 

"I don't think-" Louis stopped his teeth from chattering. "-I'll make it for Game of-"

This was just like Louis, to play off any major incident right after it happens - excluding the one Harry regrets from years ago - because he couldn't fight with anyone for long. He was terrible at making friends and would rather do this than lose the few he has. 

"Shh." Harry hid Louis' face from the wind. "I'm so sorry, Lou. I know you didn't do it."

"Jerk." Louis twisted Harry's nipple through his shirt. "I hate you."

"Please." Harry rested his cheek on Louis' head. "Hate me all you want but don't run away from me."

"How could you think it was me?" Louis asked once they were inside Harry's truck, sopping wet and pathetically shivering together. "You know I'd never-"

"I do know." Harry gripped the steering wheel. "I knew that and I.....I don't know what came over me."

Louis shuddered once more. "Please don't do it-"

"Never." Harry fervently shook his head. "I-I'm an absolute fool and I don't deserve forgiveness."

"You do but not right now." Louis cringed at the soggy state of his pants. "Can we go please?"

Harry drove to his house and they stayed in silence. He parked in the empty driveway and got even more wet when Louis took his jacket away. God he hoped he wasn't off the hook yet. He deserved so much worse. 

Louis used his shower while Harry used his parents'. They dressed in the most comfortable clothing discovered in Harry's closet before meeting up on the couch to switch on the TV. 

"Pizza again or Chinese?" Harry asked with the house phone in his hand. 

"Chinese." Louis had a red nose and puffy eyes, a tissue in his hand and a box more beside him. 

Harry sat normally with his legs not even folded, waiting for the custom of Louis' feet on his lap after ten seconds of waiting. No such thing happened for at least ten minutes and then right up until the food came. He woke up to answer the door and Louis didn't make a funny remark about giving a good tip. 

"Lou?" Harry brought the bag back to the coffee table and set it down. 

"Thank you." Louis opened the box of chicken noodles and jabbed it with a fork, ignoring the chopsticks. 

Deciding to get on top of this tension, Harry laid his head on Louis' lap. He should be doing this more often because Louis is a greater substitute for any pillow. Louis doesn't do much other than move his food out of the way and try not to touch Harry as he fed himself.

"Lou, please." He pleaded into Louis' pudge. That tummy will be the death of Harry. 

"Yeah?" Louis answered after swallowing, twirling more of the stringy dough. 

"Please, I'm so sorry." Harry abandoned the food to get cold and the oil to get thick. He hugged Louis around his middle inadequately and breathed in the scent he could enjoy secretly.

"It's fine, Harry." 

"No, it isn't!" Harry accidentally nipped Louis' skin when the Pink Floyd shirt he wore rode up. 

Louis froze and gasped. Harry didn't notice.

"Be angry with me but don't shut me out like this." Harry begged him, so earnestly that he had to look Louis in the eye. 

"Stop that." Louis pushed him away when bare skin contact became too noticeable. 

Harry frowns in his newborn confusion but moves a little away from Louis' stomach. He wants to press his face into that softness and kiss the lightly tanned skin, but he's frightening Louis as it is.

"Sorry." He whispered, waiting to be told what would put him back in Louis' good books.

"I wanna go home, Harry." Louis said instead, putting the food aside and speaking with a blocked nose. 

Harry shook his head and sat up, watching those marvellous cerulean orbs follow him. "Please just....hear me out, okay?"

Harry had everything to lose, but this moment would be one of those things if he didn't speak up now. He had to explain so many things that it made his head hurt thinking about it. If Louis rejected him now, what would he do?

"Lou." Harry rubbed circles into the back of Louis' palm. "Lou, do you remember when.....-"

"I remember." Louis' voice seemed to catch in his throat and he struggled to get the words out. 

Daring to reach out and touch this perfect embodiment of all that is pure in humankind, Harry thanks the Gods for not needing to dictate the moment he broke this person's wonderful heart. He brushed Louis' cheek and fed on the encouragement Louis gave to him through his eyes. They both wanted this barrier to be crushed, it was obvious, but they both didn't know where to start. 

They needed a push but where would it come from?

Harry opens his mouth to begin the most life-changing impromptu rant of his life. He hopes it will end in his favour, and that Louis won't deny them both a chance to be together. 

"I know." Louis suddenly said like he'd read Harry's mind that was suddenly flickering blank. 

He knew what Harry was about to say and he's not as excited as he should be. Louis fears and adores the possibility of Harry having any feelings for him, and his friend is such an open book that Louis can expertly read any thought from the movement of his features. 

"You know?" Harry blinked in surprise. How long had Louis known?

"Yeah." Louis knotted his fingers together and looked down at them. "I'm....I-I can't, Harry."

Harry feels a very large piece of his soul deflate, the other minority simply shrivelling up and dying. It rots like Harry does internally, staring forlorn and heartbroken at Louis. 

"C-Can't?" He sputters, still holding onto his anchor that is Louis' smaller hands. 

"Our friendship means more than.....-" Louis hiccups under his breath. "Our friendship, Harry, means more to me than you could understand. I can't risk losing that."

"We'd still be friends, Lou." He brought himself closer to Louis, showcasing the depth of his pleas. "I made the _biggest mistake_ of my life when I said no to you. Since that day, I knew I'd be regretting that choice."

Louis shook his head, ignoring Harry trying to keep securing his wrists when he pulls his hands away. "This will be another mistake that you'll realise down the line. I love you, Harry. I love you but I can't do this."

Harry will throw himself down the deepest well if he let's Louis leave in the middle of the conversation he's been dying to have for the past three years. He launches himself at the boy when Louis stands up, and they land together in a tumble on the rug with Louis whining. 

"Get off! You're a damn giant, Harry!" He arches and thrashes about but it's all futile. 

"Stop." Harry pins Louis' flailing limbs to the ground and stares into those angry eyes with his own wild ones, forcing his way into Louis' mind. "Just listen."

"No!" Louis wriggles and Harry groans. 

"Louis!" He roars with pent-up emotions reeling in his chest. 

Louis didn't know Harry could erupt like that. He huffs like a petulant child and settles down. 

"Just listen to me, I'm begging you." Once the ferocity of his anger is moved away, Harry is a gooey mess and horrifically his eyes threaten to well up. "I need you in my life, and not in the way that you are now."

"You can't force me to-"

"If you don't feel the way you did back then, or even half of it, I-" Harry realises that he seriously will be lost if that were true. "Don't lie to me and say you don't feel that way. You won't be saving anyone, Lou."

Louis was cut up inside, raw and bleeding onto the carpet. "If you find someone else-"

"In three years I failed to spend all my time with anyone except you. I....will _never_ give you up for another human being."

His bottom lip with a wobbly instability but Louis held himself together, barely. "I...I do still love you."

Harry released a breath of relief, his lips landing on Louis' forehead. When a tear slipped out of the other boy's closed eyelid, he moved his kiss there. "I love you too. I love you so much."

  
* * * * *  


"He was mean to me because he loves me." Louis turned to Harry from Niall. "You were mean to me because you love me, right?"

Harry revealed his head from the crook of Louis' neck and glared at him playfully. "It's deeper than that, Lou."

"Okay so we get it." Niall intervenes once again. "Lou, did you bring- Louis!"

"Hmm?" Louis' response was hardly audible because he was having his mouth inspected by Harry's tongue. 

"Stop that indecency." Liam threw his ruler at them, the flexible one with all the possible Physics equations that Louis would hijack and never return. 

Louis pulled his lips off Harry's but stayed just as close. Who knew what threatened to tear them apart, right? He giggled and snatched up the item from the floor. Regarding the two chairs at their two desks, they only occupied Harry's. Louis sat on his lap with his legs on the other chair. 

"Louis." Niall sighed heavily. "Did you bring the past year papers I asked for?"

"Oh yeah, I did." Louis reached for the papers and handed them over. "Memo's and question papers. I have the originals if anything's difficult to see."

"Thanks." Niall set them down on his desk and Louis glanced at his digital watch after it beeped to signal the end of another hour. 

Ten minutes later Harry and he were arguing over methods to use for solving a chemistry problem. Niall looked on with unhidden amusement, and Liam shook his head at his friends. 

"I swear, Harold, stoichiometry is far easier!" Louis proclaimed, having been a big fan of it since he first learnt about it. 

"This is titration, Lou. You can't use stoichiometry without solving for one tenth of the answer."

"But we can substitute, can't we?" Louis shuffled over to his chair and showed, with his - Liam's - pencil, how it can be done.

"It's a longer method though, babe."

"Yes, but I'd rather be safer with my longer method than freaking out and wasting time when I don't know how to do the shorter method."

To end their discussion, their teacher walked in fifteen minutes later after compiling the grids for other teachers. She looked at the two at the front and then at Liam, who did his famous head shake before everyone moved on. Louis hiked his knee up against the table and because his legs didn't flow for miles, it was hardly recognisable. 

"So-" Their educator stood at the front with a pile of white paper. "-ready for the test?"

Louis' leg fell to the ground. "What test?!" 

**_[A/N: So now you have a peek into my life :) minus the Louis/Harry and romance lol, everything else is mainly what I get up to. I have 3 friends and we do behave like idiots. My close friend and I do have a secret hideout where we run away from everyone. It's a boring life but I'd never change a thing. - S xx]_ **


End file.
